Encounter specialist Daya Nayak suspended after corruption inquiry

Police sub-inspector and ‘encounter specialist’ Daya Nayak has been suspended from Maharashtra Police following a long corruption inquiry against him since 2006.

Nayak was arrested by the Anti-Corruption Bureau in 2006 after former journalist Ketan Tirodkar complained against him that he owned disproportionate assets to his known sources of income.

The ACB had also arrested two friends of the 1995-batch police officer, who lent their names in the transfer of his wealth.

The decision comes after former Director General of Police SS Virk had in 2009 denied to prosecute Nayak in the case. He made a remark saying there were insufficient grounds and Nayak was cleared of all the charges.

Nayak was reinstated in 2012 and was told to join a local arms wing of the department. He was then transferred to the west region of Mumbai, which is considered a high-profile zone in the city. After this, he was transferred to Nagpur, but he didn’t join service there.

During his career, Nayak is known to have killed more than 80 gangsters including Rafik Dabba, Sadik Kalia, Vinod Matkar and three Lashkar-e-Taiba operatives.

However, when contacted by PTI, Nayak said he was not aware of any such suspension order.